According to a December 2004 press release from the Arthritis Foundation, arthritis is the nations's number one cause of disability. Among the types of arthritis that affect large numbers of Americans are rheumatoid arthritis and gouty arthritis.
Acute gouty arthritis is an attack of a metabolic disease marked by uric acid deposits in the joints. The disorder is painful, especially in the joints of the feet and legs.
Gout is caused by a defect in metabolism that results in an overproduction of uric acid or a reduced ability of the kidney to eliminate uric acid. The exact cause of the metabolic defect is unknown. In acute gouty arthritis, symptoms develop suddenly and usually involve only one or a few joints. The pain frequently starts during the night and is often described as throbbing, crushing, or excruciating. The joint appears infected with signs of warmth, redness, and tenderness. The attacks of painful joints may subside in several days, but may recur at irregular intervals. Subsequent attacks usually have a longer duration. Some people may progress to chronic gouty arthritis, while others may have no further attacks.
The symptoms of gout include joint pain that affects one or more joints (e.g. hip pain, knee pain, ankle pain, foot pain, shoulder pain, elbow pain, wrist pain, hand pain, or pain in other joints). The great toe, knee, or ankle joints are most often affected. Other symptoms include joint swelling of the affected joints, stiffness of the joint, warm and red joints, fever, skin lumps.
Generally, adequate treatment of acute gout attacks allows people to live a normal life. However, the acute form of the disease may progress to chronic disease. Since uric acid is normally eliminated by the kidneys, chronic gout may lead to the formation of uric acid kidney stones. An attack of chronic gout is similar to an attack of acute gouty arthritis. Symptoms come on suddenly, usually involving only one or a few joints. The pain frequently starts during the night and is often described as throbbing, crushing, or excruciating. The affected joints show signs of warmth, redness, and tenderness. The pain tends to subside within several days. Chronic gout attacks, however, occur more often.
There is no known cure for gout or arthritis. The goals of treatment are mainly to stop the pain and inflammation associated with the initial attack, and to prevent future attacks.
Known drugs include colchicine, which is effective in reducing the pain, swelling, and inflammation associated with acute gout attacks. The pain often subsides within 12 hours of starting treatment, and is completely relieved in 48 hours. The medication works by decreasing the inflammation caused by uric acid crystals within the joint. However, it does not decrease the uric acid levels in the bloodstream. Daily use of colchicine or allopurinol helps prevent future attacks. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can be very effective in treating the pain and inflammation of an acute gout attack if taken soon after symptoms start. Corticosteroids can also be very effective, although it requires that a doctor inject the inflamed joint with steroids to relieve the pain. Long term use of corticosteroids can cause damage to bones and have many other side effects.
Although biologic drugs like Rituxan, Abatacept, and methotrexate have shown some promise in treating rheumatoid arthritis these drugs do not provide complete relief or fully stop the progression of the disease. More importantly, they have side effects, as all drugs do.
There are dietary changes that may be prescribed for gout and/or arthritis either by doctors or by alternative medicine promoters. For example, a diet low in purines may be prescribed by doctors also in fighting arthritis. Organ meats, beer, wine, and certain types of fish contain high levels of purines. Increased fluid intake prevents the formation of kidney stones. Alternative medicine sources also recommend drinking cherry extract concentrate because it “may” prevent gout and lessen arthritis-related pain and inflammation. As with all dietary programs, it is hard to get a person to stick to them, particularly when there are no quantitative recommendations. Furthermore, the dietary changes may depend upon each person's eating habits and taste. Moreover, the dietary changes also have to fit with other special diets that a patient may have committed to. In general, proposed dietary changes are not looked to for curing arthritis or gout.
There has been no known reliable way of obtaining virtually complete relief from the symptoms of arthritis and gout over a long period of time, i.e. years, and particularly with no side effects. There is a compelling need for a natural remedy that reliably and fully relieves the symptoms of gout and arthritis without side effects over an extended period of time.